PED use allowed in new Enhanced Games, set for May 2026 - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — A new company hoping to infuse unprecedented levels of science, money and performance-enhancing drugs into Olympic-style sports says it will hold its first formal competition next May in Las Vegas.

The Enhanced Games announced plans Wednesday to host in exactly one year its first annual competition in which athletes will be allowed, if not outright encouraged, to use PEDs like steroids, testosterone and growth hormone that are typically legal to possess but banned in sports. Organizers say they hope to remove the stigma of using these substances and promote safer ways to push the limits of human performance.

Aron D'Souza, the company's founder and president, framed Wednesday's announcement as the opening salvo in an effort to create «superhumanity.» He unveiled the event's grandiose ambitions from the stage of a club on the Las Vegas Strip, accompanied by strobe lights and house music in a presentation that hued more toward a tech start-up product launch than a sports event.

«We are here to move humanity forward,» D'Souza said. "… The old rules didn't just hold back athletes, they held back humanity."

D'Souza's company is offering substantial financial incentives to athletes who will likely have to give up future opportunities to compete in most other international sporting events. Along with a $500,000 purse for each event ($250,000 to the first-place finisher), Enhanced Games will also provide appearance fees to athletes and bonuses for breaking records during the competition.

Enhanced Games has already signed its first $1 million check as a bonus for beating a world record. Wednesday's launch featured an hour-long documentary that showed Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev setting a new world record in the